I use this blog to gather information and thoughts about invention and innovation, the subjects I've been teaching at Stanford University Continuing Studies Program since 2005.
The current course is Principles of Invention and Innovation (Summer '17).
Our book "Scalable Innovation" is now available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Scalable-Innovation-Inventors-Entrepreneurs-Professionals/dp/1466590971/

Monday, January 28, 2013

Failure rates in startups with funding above $1M

...findings are based on data from more than 2,000 companies that received
venture funding, generally at least $1 million, from 2004 through 2010.

About three-quarters of venture-backed firms in the U.S. don't return
investors' capital, according to recent research by Shikhar Ghosh, a
senior lecturer at Harvard Business School.

There are also different definitions of failure. If failure means
liquidating all assets, with investors losing all their money, an
estimated 30% to 40% of high potential U.S. start-ups fail, he says. If
failure is defined as failing to see the projected return on
investment—say, a specific revenue growth rate or date to break even on
cash flow—then more than 95% of start-ups fail, based on Mr. Ghosh's
research.